


save your love for someone like me

by washingmachineheart



Category: BoBoiBoy (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28315449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/washingmachineheart/pseuds/washingmachineheart
Summary: Kaizo gets stood up. Ramen ditches a date.
Relationships: Kaizo/Ramenman (BoBoiBoy)
Kudos: 5





	save your love for someone like me

**Author's Note:**

> this is based off a scene from the book will grayson, will grayson by john green and david levithan. this was supposed to be part of an au as well but then i realised i just wanted to make this scene ramenzo and not much else lmao 
> 
> for some context - kaizo's been communicating with an online friend (ruth), who he's had mild feelings for. he knows ramen as he volunteers at the store kaizo works at.

Kaizo doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting on the sidewalk. 

Alright. He does. By now he’s memorised every single pattern of granite on the road below him, watching a vehicle’s wheels move past and occasionally listen to the sounds of people passing him by. As a matter of fact every minute that’s passed has been ticked off in his brain, the LED lights from the convenience store burning into his back. It’s been an hour, and he’s not here yet. 

It’s okay, Kaizo thinks. He just needs a bit more time. 

He’ll come around. 

He _promised._

“Hey, you.” 

He looks up, and it’s… not him. But it’s Ramen, clad in a denim jacket and everything. He’s holding two slushies in his hands, though there’s clearly only one person. 

“Hey,” Kaizo says back, though it’s a smaller “hey” than he would like. 

Ramen has decided to make the conscious choice to sit next to him, and he hands him the beverage. It’s blue from the looks of it, and Kaizo only blinks at first. 

“You look like you could use a friend,” Ramen says, and his voice, in spite of the weather and drink of choice, is so warm. Every time Ramen spoke it almost felt like you _needed_ to believe him, no matter how absurd it was. 

Kaizo doesn’t answer. Instead he takes the drink, though Ramen has neglected to provide him with a straw. So he’s left holding it like a sad, sad trophy. A shoddy award with no one to share it with. _Yippee,_ Kaizo can’t help but think. If Ruth were here he would have… 

… except he’s supposed to be here. But he isn’t. 

“You okay?” Ramen asks, and it’s only then he hands him a straw, like he’d only remembered you needed one to drink with. 

“Well,” Kaizo starts. He wonders if he should tell him. Is it crazy? Is it stupid? Is it stupid _and_ crazy that he was finally meet someone that he might be in love with - only he existed and didn’t at the same time? 

“I was supposed to meet someone today,” Kaizo starts, though the words come out all wrong and he’s not talking in his voice at all. Ramen however, smiles knowingly. 

“Me too,” Ramen sighs, taking a sip out of his own red slushie. 

Kaizo takes a look at his own slushy, inspecting the bright logo and watching the droplets of condensed water trickle down the cup. There is a silence that befalls between the two of them, as if the reality was only really settling in. A car rushes past, a flash of light and a loud honk in spite of the empty road that it reigned. 

“So you’re just like me,” Kaizo says, placing the drink down and letting his arms support his torso as they grazed the dirty sidewalk behind him. “They stand you up?” 

“Yeah,” Ramen nods, taking another sip. “Though weirdly I’m sort of relieved about it.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I didn’t actually want to go out today,” Ramen confesses, shrugging his shoulders. “I would have rather stayed in and slept early with my dog. But my dad insisted I try to go on a date.”

“Why?” 

Ramen heaves, like he’s been through this multiple times. “He’s just… being a dad, I guess. He doesn’t want to see me die alone.” 

“Right.” Kaizo resists the urge to tell him he’s lucky. That he has a dad to nag him like that, who just wanted to see his son happy, even if it was a rather traditional mode of happiness. 

“They didn’t show up… and I don’t know. When I got to the store,” Ramen nudges a shoulder to the direction behind him, “I just felt like I had to get two of these things.” 

Kaizo lets out an unamused hmph, and Ramen smiles. 

“And here you are!” The blonde exclaims, like its somehow the best thing in the world. 

“Here I am,” Kaizo echoes. Because he really is here, whether he liked it or not. 

“How about you?” Ramen asks. “Where’s your date?” 

“Um,” Kaizo starts, and realises he doesn’t know where to. Ramen had done a good job at rambling about himself for a bit that he was sort of hoping the conversation wouldn’t circle back to him. 

“He was… supposed to be here an hour ago,” Kaizo says dumbly, though now with the time he’s spent with Ramen it’s really an hour and at least ten minutes now. But he doubts that he needs to be specific with the time anyway. 

“Geez, an _hour?”_ Ramen repeats, and Kaizo nods. 

“You’ve got some real patience,” Ramen tuts. “I couldn’t wait that long for anyone.”

“He might show up soon,” Kaizo says, though he’s well-aware he’s been repeating that to himself in his head at least a thousand times by now. 

“I hope he does,” Ramen quips back. “I sure as hell wouldn’t leave a cute guy like you hanging around for nothing.” 

Kaizo feels the blood rush into his cheeks, and instinctively he touches them. As expected his hands are cold, but the cheeks are steaming. Kaizo had a distinct feeling that flirting was occurring, but he couldn’t reciprocate it. Not _now._ Not with Ruth on the way. If things were different, maybe… 

That’s when his cell phone rings, vibrating inside his pocket. 

“Sorry,” Kaizo says, as he pulls it out of his pocket. Ramen shakes his head, as if to say _go on._

“Kaizo, hey,” and of course it’s PB’s voice that he’s hearing. He curses himself for not immediately checking the caller ID. 

“Hey, PB,” Kaizo answers, and he sees Ramen’s eyebrows go up. _My coworker,_ he mouths, and Ramen’s mouth drops into a little “o” like he understood. 

“How’s your date going?” PB asks, and Kaizo feels his heart quicken. He didn’t tell anyone at work that he was going on a date. 

“Uh, it’s.” He takes a look at Ramen, who also looks at him expectantly. 

“It’s great,” Kaizo manages, hoping it’s convincing enough. “We’ve uh. Just had some slushies together. Just sitting on the sidewalk, bonding.” He knows he’s just babbling at this point, and Ramen actually snickers. 

“Cool,” PB says, and Kaizo does not like the way there’s poison in his tone. 

“Actually, we’re heading to a concert later,” Kaizo immediately jumps into twisting this into an elaborate lie. 

“Oh yeah? Which band is playing where?” 

“Its… some band you never heard of.” 

“Try me.” 

“That’s the name of the band. Some Band You’ve Never Heard Of.” Ramen is actually stifling real laughter, and Kaizo resists the urge to kick him in the stomach. 

“Oh, that one,” PB says. “I just read about them when I nicked a rejected copy of _Rolling.”_

“Right,” Kaizo says, his own voice seething with bitterness. 

“Yeah, the piece was called “Ruth’s not coming, you fucking liar.” 

No. No. No no no no no no no **_no._ **

Ramen must have caught the horror in his face, because he mouths a “what’s wrong,” worry filling in his blue eyes. Kaizo bites the top of his lip, the scream boiling in his chest. This is not happening. This _cannot_ be happening. 

“You… bastard,” Kaizo starts, filling himself up and spilling over the sidewalk, into the drain. “You read my texts. You figured out my password to my account.” 

“Kaizo. I am Ruth.” 

_What?_ “Don’t be fucking stupid. Ruth’s not—” And then he stops. Because he doesn’t know how to continue that sentence. 

This is a fever dream, Kaizo pleads, because the world is suddenly spinning and he just wants to crawl into the drain pipes and perish. Please, God. Let this be a dream. 

“Kaizo…,” PB said slowly, his voice so irritatingly filled with remorse. “You didn't think he was actually going to take you to a convenience store for a date.” 

“...” 

“It was a joke.” 

“You fucking…. _bitch,”_ Kaizo sputters, the tears forming in his eyes and his vision of Ramen now just plain blurry. 

“Why…” the words can't form, his mind doesn't work and everything is beginning to crash down on him. Ruth was never real. The one person he depended on for comfort and safety, who had opened up to about his honest thoughts. The one person he desperately wanted to see, was just an illusion. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” PB starts again, and Kaizo is tempted to throw his phone down the earth and smash it. “I didn’t think it would go this far. But it was the only way to get through to you. I know you might be mad —” 

“Might be,” Kaizo says dumbly, his voice completely devoid of emotion. He had run out. 

“But I did it because I wanted to be your friend. Kaizo, please. We can talk about this—” 

“Don’t ever,” Kaizo spat, “try to talk to me ever again. We may work together, but if you ever see me within twenty feet I want you to look away. It is with respect to your parents that I am not murdering you outright. But please don't speak to me ever. Again.” 

Instead of putting down his phone he shuts it off immediately. He wants to feel the satisfaction. The pride of standing up to someone, of asserting yourself. 

But it doesn't come. Instead it’s the misery that washes over him, years of the things he wished he could stop needing given away to someone who didn't exist at all. 

“Hey,” Ramen says softly, gently putting an arm around his shoulder. Normally Kaizo didn't like being touched. But he lets him. 

“Is everything okay?” Ramen asks, in that same warm voice that he'd used earlier. Even though everything was clearly _not_ okay and the weight of the world was just crushing him completely now. 

“I think,” Kaizo starts, his voice cracking. “I need to sit down and feel what I need to feel.” 

“Okay,” Ramen says softly. 

“Do you want a hug?” Ramen asks, and it’s such a stupid and absurd request that if it weren’t for the situation Kaizo is certain he’ll laugh. 

But he doesn’t. Instead he finds himself resting on Ramen’s chest because he’s brought himself closer, and Ramen’s arms are wrapped around his back securely. His jacket is warm, his chest is broad and he could hear his steady heartbeat thumping rhythmically. Like a snug, soft teddy bear.

And it’s in this moment that Kaizo realises while for the most part sanity just didn’t exist in the world for a variety of reasons — good things did, and right now Ramen is one of them. 

“Turns out,” Kaizo tries, though he knows if he speaks another word he would start crying. “He was never going to show up at all.” 

“Why not?” 

“It was my coworker, playing a joke,” he heaves. 

Ramen stiffens, like even he wasn’t immune to the gravity of the thing PB had done. “Well,” Ramen says, wrapping himself onto Kaizo tighter. “That’s a hell of a mean joke.” 

“You know what sucks about love?” Kaizo murmurs. 

“What?” 

“That it’s so tied to the truth.” 

And then it starts, because frankly Kaizo doesn’t really know what’s right and what’s wrong anymore. If he was ever going to be worth the time and space, if the world was just going to continue to fuck him over relentlessly until he gave up and stopped existing. He feels his chest give way, and then he’s crying, the hot tears streaming down his face and staining Ramen’s shirt. 

“Oh dear,” Ramen says, letting him go when he’d realised what was happening. 

“Sorry,” Kaizo sputters, wiping the tears off his cheeks, though the snot was streaming down his nose and it was honestly just pointless. 

“No, no,” Ramen himself sputtered, clearly a little taken aback. “Here, please. Cry all you want.” He pulled up a crumpled up tissue from his pocket, and Kaizo blinked through the tears, processing the act. 

“Oh my god,” Ramen exclaimed. “It’s clean, I swear. I ate at a McDonald’s earlier and I kept the tissue in my pocket.” 

For a moment there was a silence, and both parties looked at each other in both confusion and embarrassment. 

And then Kaizo laughed. 

Don’t get him wrong. The misery still weighed in his heart, the betrayal of the evening probably needing a couple more nights of crying for him to get over. But the laugh is genuine, Ramen’s earnesty taking away those melancholic feelings for a while. 

He hasn’t really laughed in years. Not even with Ruth, who had said his fair share of funny things in the time they were “together.” But he’s laughing, his eyes shut and his stomach twisting a little as if to remind him that if he laughed any harder he was going to throw up. 

Ramen on the other hand, had his face painted pink and his eyes wide. He was so thoroughly confused by the chain of events, but he was letting it happen anyway. 

“Sorry,” Kaizo apologises, as soon as the laughter had ceased. “I just… you’re _adorable_.” 

He doesn’t know why he says that. But he does, and Ramen seems rather pleased by this. 

“Aw, really?” Ramen says, his smile returning to his face. 

Kaizo doesn’t even know what to say in response. But this time he’s really _looking_ at Ramen for the first time, and for once in his godforsaken life he was right. Ramen _was_ adorable. It was actually quite insulting. How had he not noticed this? 

He inches closer to Ramen, who takes a step the same as him. 

“You know,” Ramen says, pushing the hair out of Kaizo’s eyes. “This is not where I was expecting the night to go.” 

“Tell me about it,” Kaizo whispers. 

He doesn’t know if this is too quick. If this is a bad decision, if he was doing this for the wrong reason. He would have been doing this with someone else. Tonight would have been a date with _someone else._

But they didn’t exist. And Ramen was, very much, real. 

And he was _here._

Perhaps Ramen knows this too. Because their faces are inches apart, his blue eyes are filled with the same intent and _want_ and he whispers, “we don’t have to do this.” 

He’s right. They don’t have to do this. 

But Kaizo finds he wants it anyway. 

He surges forward, and places his lips softly onto Ramen’s, closing his eyes and letting himself stay in his touch for a good moment. And it’s heaven, because Ramen’s lips return the same sentiment and they both find that their impulse decision is one they want to revel in properly. 

And no. This is not where Kaizo expects the night to go. Kissing the cute, blonde boy on the sidewalk, in front of the convenience store. Because his voice is warm and his eyes are filled with all sorts of genuine want and more importantly _understanding_ , something the world had never given Kaizo. Not once. 

His hands touch his neck softly, like Kaizo’s made of glass and he was afraid to break him. Kaizo lets his own go down to Ramen’s waist, almost making their shadows turn siamese.

When they break apart for air, Ramen is the one that breaks into a shy smile. 

And for once Kaizo is glad that he exists. 

“I’m happy you’re alive,” Kaizo says, and Ramen grins widely. 

“I’m happy _you’re_ alive,” Ramen parrots, and it makes Kaizo’s heart lurch. 

“Actually, I have something to tell you,” Ramen says suddenly, and his face has turned mildly serious. 

“What?” Kaizo asks, his heart picking itself back up. 

“My butt is really cold,” Ramen says, and he almost slaps him. “I really want to get up now.” 

And so Kaizo gets up, and Ramen does too. They’d abandoned their slushies, and the condensed water had evaporated, the cup now room temperature in warmth and the contents of the drink melted. 

“Do you want another one?” Ramen offers, and Kaizo shakes his head. Honestly, he’d puke if he’d have to be reminded about going into a convenience store again. 

“Is the night over?” Kaizo finds himself saying, and Ramen looks at him quizzingly. 

“Like… is this where it ends? We kiss on a sidewalk and then we go back?” 

Ramen doesn’t answer him at first. A moment passes, and then he speaks. 

“It doesn’t have to,” he says eventually. “I’d like this to go on - but only if you want that too.”

“I want,” Kaizo says, and Ramen smiles. 

There are stars in his eyes, and Kaizo wants to kiss him again. “Me too.”

The night is still young. But Kaizo doesn’t have an inkling of what to do. He wonders if he would have been doing lots of things with Ruth… but then, the only point of activity was just meeting in front of a convenience store. In hindsight, maybe Kaizo really was an idiot. The man didn’t even suggest bowling or a movie and yet somehow he had agreed to go on a date with him. 

“Actually,” Ramen says. “Are you willing to follow me somewhere?”

“Yeah, sure.” 

That was when Ramen took out his phone, and dialled a number. 

“Hey, Dad,” were his first words, and Kaizo’s eyes widened.

“Yeah… yeah. It’s going okay. Actually,” Ramen says, and he looks right at Kaizo. “It’s going so darned well in fact, that I think you should meet him. We’re turning back now so we can all chat and he can meet Cassie.” 

“What?” Kaizo exclaims, and Ramen only winks. 

That was when he did the unthinkable, and passed the phone to Kaizo. “He wants to say hi,” Ramen said, and Kaizo shook his head frantically. 

“No,” Kaizo protested. “That’s embarrassing, come on—” And then his right ear was pressed against Ramen’s warm phone screen, and Kaizo gulped. 

“Hello, Ramen’s date!” The alleged father on the other end said a little too cheerily. Goddamn it Ramen. 

“Hi,” Kaizo croaked, very embarrassed indeed. 

“How do you find my son so far?” He pressed, clearly excited his son’s “date” was turning out well. 

“He’s… nice,” Kaizo tries, and Ramen pretends to slice a knife into his heart. 

“He’s great, mister. He really is,” He says honestly, and Ramen’s smile is so blinding that it makes him want to hang up and kiss him senseless. 

“Lovely, lovely,” he replies, and Kaizo is beginning to understand where Ramen gets his warmth from. That was when a loud woof was heard in the background. 

“Pass the phone back to my son for a bit,” he says, and Kaizo complies. 

“Yo,” Ramen says when the phone is back to his own ear again. _“Dad,_ ” he suddenly says, a goofy grin on his face. “I don’t need your approval.” 

And Kaizo hears what sounds like “thought you might like it anyway,” before Ramen hangs up and the line goes dead. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
